Page 18 of Heart Broken Mate

I washed the blood off my body, and my hand touched the pendant on my chest. I rolled it in my fingers, tracing out theshape of the half-moon. It looked so inconsequential now. One half of a pendant, with the other half out there on some random person’s neck, waiting to be found by me. The possibility of that ever happening now was slimmer than ever.

I let the pendant go and finished washing up. When I got to the bedroom, a new set of clothes was on the bed waiting for me. It was just my style—a pair of jeans, a dark plaid shirt, and a leather jacket for the cold.

I put it on fast and walked into the living room. Kris was waiting for me with a bag in hand. He handed it to me, his eyes sad and heavy.

“I’ll be fine, Kris,” I told him.

“I really hope you will be. This is very serious. Now, tell me what happened. I know you didn’t kill that man for no reason.”

“It was an accident,” I told him, “He was….” I started but stopped. It sounded even crazy to me to say it out loud. Just ludicrous. I knew the reaction to expect.

“Spit it out,” he said.

“I found out he was involved in a child trafficking ring,” I said, and the silence that followed was intense.

“No way,” Kris said after a while, chuckling dryly. “James? No way.”

“Yes. I was shocked too. I confronted him, and he didn’t deny it. He told me to keep it to myself, but I couldn’t. He threatened to kill me if I didn’t. We got into a fight, and he died. I killed him.”

Kris still stared at me, the disbelief obvious. James has been Alpha for as long as I remember. Some say for over thirty years now, and he’s been the best alpha the community could hope for.

“Are you sure?” Kris asked again.

“Yes,” I said. “It wasn’t just him. It was Lenny, and some people I think are from the Tarloux family.

At the mention of the family, Kris’s eyes went dark.

“He’s got business with that family?”

“It would seem so,” I said.

“Oh, James, what the hell did you get yourself into? And what the hell did you get yourself into, Hayley?”

I wanted to tell him about the shipment that was about to happen but decided not to. I have no idea how I would stop that while still on the run, but I would figure something out.

“I have to go, Kris. Thank you.”

He sighed and pulled me in for a hug. “You find a way to send a message to me when you’re safe, okay?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Go towards Michigan if you can,” he said again. “I will send words ahead of you. Find a man called Parlance. He will help you.”

“Parlance. Okay, got it.”

I hugged him again and stepped out of the house, walking back to the road.

I had no intention of going to Michigan or looking for a man called Parlance. I had a plan. It might cost me my life, but since it looked like I was going to forfeit that anyway, I might as well take down James’s legacy with it and expose him for who he really had been.

Chapter seven (Luke)

“Come, I’ll show you something,” Bonne said as he walked into the shop. It was quite early in the morning, the sun was barely out, and the street was still very dark. Word has spread now about James’s death, and everyone knows there might be some trouble before the new alpha settles in. James kept the community in control, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t elements out there always looking to perpetuate evil. They will take this moment and attack. No one wanted to be a victim, so they remained home. They would stay indoors until the sun was well out and darkness couldn’t provide camouflage for evil. It will be that way for a while—at least the next two months or thereabout.

I wondered what else would happen within those months. There is a new alpha, but will he hold the position? Would everyone be satisfied with his appointment? If they are not, that will destabilize the community.

I pushed that out of my mind, though, as it is none of my business. It is my business now to find the alpha killer, and Bonne would help me with that.

I followed him into his herb shop, and he hit the switch on the wall, flooding the shop with light. We both could see clearly if we just glowed our eyes, but Bonne mostly liked to live like he wasn’t a werewolf. He barely turns, maybe once a year, just to see if he could still do it. I can’t remember the last time I saw his claws while I extended mine a hundred times a day.

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